1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to communication devices and more particularly to communication devices for use with multiple communication lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular telephones, messaging devices, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and other portable electronic devices having communication capability have become fixtures of everyday life over the last several years. As they evolve, prices continue to fall while the devices' capabilities have expanded. Currently, such devices can be used in many places to make wireless connection to the Internet, play games, as well as carry out electronic mail and other messaging functions. It is anticipated that as time goes by, the capabilities of such devices will continue to expand as prices continue to fall, making use of such devices a permanent part of people's daily lives. Device manufacturers utilize technological innovations to carefully balance excitement and fun with convenience and simplicity of use.
Device customers are now relying on a single portable electronic device to provide communication capabilities where-ever they are located whenever they are needed. To facilitate this single device scenario, some device manufacturers are providing capability for multiple communication lines within a single communication device. For example, some wireless communication devices today offer alternate communication lines which enable the device to operate with two phone numbers, for example, one line for personal use and the other for business use. Some cellular telephones include “dual line registration” which is the ability to have two cellular telephone numbers in a single cellular telephone. The device user can set certain options such as the ring style and type of notification for calls on each individual line. The device user further can choose one of the two lines as the active line for outgoing calls.
Although portable communications devices are more accessible than fixed devices, there are still times when the device user is not able or available to answer a call. Message storage services provide a method for messages to be left for later retrieval. For example, voicemail provides electronic storage and transfer of audible messages. Similarly, video mail provides electronic storage and transfer of voice and motion video messages. Today's current communication devices with multiple lines provide individual message storage “mail boxes” for each line separately. To retrieve messages on each line, the user must manually change his active line prior to calling the voice mail number.